The Georgian Interior Ministry fined Finnish Foreign Minister and current OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Elina Valtonen $1,800 for “blocking the road” after her appearance at a protest hotspot in Tbilisi.
It came after Valtonen posted a clip from Tbilisi’s central thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue, expressing her support for pro-democracy demonstrators.
The fine, issued under Article 174¹ (5) of Georgia’s Administrative Offenses Code, accuses Valtonen of “artificial obstruction of a public road.” It remains unclear whether she paid the fine before departing the country.
Valtonen was in Tbilisi on Oct. 14-15 as part of an official visit in her OSCE role. After meeting Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, she joined demonstrators outside the Parliament building.
“Taking away the basic liberties of people”
Protesters have been taking to Rustaveli Avenue for 323 consecutive days to protest against the authoritarian turn of Georgia’s populist government, which has responded in turn with increasingly severe crackdowns on protest and media freedoms.
Although the rallies had dwindled in recent months, local elections which saw a near-total boycott by opposition parties reignited tensions on Oct. 4 as a fringe group of rally-goers broke off from the demonstration and attempted to storm the presidential palace.
Speaking outside Parliament, Valtonen said of protesters in a clip published on Tuesday: “These people are concerned about the direction this country has been taking – taking away the basic liberties of people, starting with the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly. Needless to say, these people deserve all these rights and we are here to support them.”
A diplomatic spat
A subsequent statement by the Georgian government on Oct. 15 said that the Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, had canceled a scheduled meeting with Valtonen over the video.
The decision was met because Valtonen “participated in an illegal rally and made false statements,” according to the statement.
However, according to Finland’s leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Valtonen herself canceled the meeting, notifying the Georgian side late on the evening of Oct. 14.
In a phone interview with Helsingin Sanomat, Valtonen said:“My meeting with Prime Minister Kobakhidze was canceled not at Georgia’s initiative, but at Finland’s initiative, due to changes in the schedule. The Georgians were informed the previous evening.”
The situation quickly escalated. On Oct. 15, Kobakhidze publicly called the OSCE Chairperson a “foreign agent,” accusing her of taking sides in Georgia’s domestic politics.
Valtonen hit back in a social media statement addressed to Kobakhidze on Thursday, writing: “The Georgian future is only for the Georgian people to decide. The same applies to every OSCE participating state.”
“For people to be able to exercise this right, they need freedom of speech and free and fair elections with political alternatives to choose from,” she added, before extending an invitation to the Prime Minister to “come to Finland, meet the free press and observe any demonstration of your liking.”
The Georgian Foreign Ministry later issued a note of protest to the OSCE Secretariat and member states, expressing “concern” over Valtonen’s actions. The note accused her of joining a “small group of anti-government activists” and attempting to “mislead the international community” about the situation in Georgia.
Fines for protesters
Georgia’s Interior Ministry confirmed to local independent outlet OC Media that Valtonen had been fined 5,000 Georgian lari ($1,800), the same penalty which has been consistently levied on attendees at the rallies over a period of some months.
Since early this year, protesters have been handed extortionate fines by authorities as part of a sustained effort to stamp out the protests which have blocked the central road each night for almost a year.
The changes took effect after the country’s disputed president Mikheil Kavelashvili signed an amendment to Georgia’s Administrative Offenses Code on Dec. 29 raising the fines for “blocking the road” from 500 Georgian lari ($180) to 5,000 lari ($1,800).
Some protesters have racked up over 70 fines each for their repeated participation in the protests, according to OC Media.
Georgia has also sometimes been known to deny entry at the border to foreign individuals, including international journalists, who refuse to pay the fees.
The Georgian Dream party is now pushing amendments that would allow for up to 15 days of imprisonment instead of fines for similar actions – a proposal being rushed through Parliament in the aftermath of what the government says it views as an attempted coup.
Tensions with the West deepen
The diplomatic clash underscores the growing rift between the Georgian Dream government and its Western allies.
Tbilisi’s relations with the EU and the United States have sharply deteriorated amid the adoption of the controversial Russian-style “foreign agents” law, attacks on independent media, and smear campaigns targeting Western diplomats.
Analysts say the fine imposed on Valtonen – a sitting EU foreign minister and OSCE chair – represents an unprecedented move that further isolates Georgia on the international stage and pushes the country closer to Moscow’s orbit.